Has DC Comics Done Something Stupid Today?

[NukeHavoc]

http://hasdcdonesomethingstupidtoday.com/

[EvilGenius]

You mean dumber than letting Grant Morrison try and kill batman and then try to retcon it by making him 'unstuck in time' or whatever? Dumber than Countdown and the New 52?

I'm glad you asked! Yes, yes they did do something dumber than that! It's almost enough to make me start reading XMen again .....

[Lars Porsenna]

Wait, what's wrong with the New 52? IMHO if that hadn't come along I probably wouldn't be reading the number of DC titles I am now...

Damon.

[EvilGenius]

Opinions vary on the New 52 and while some titles are pretty good, overall the management of the brand has been pretty messed up behind the scenes. And, for every 'pretty good' title there are also several 'not very good' titles.

I think that as a stand alone product, the New 52 is about as good as New Coke. Decent, but never more than a pale imitation of the original, you know? There were a LOT of top quality books for the 15ish years before the Crisis events. Geoff Johns on JSA, Kevin Smith's resurrection of Green Arrow, Geoff Johns resurrection of Green Lantern, the intro and development of the Tim Drake Robin, spinning Nightwing off to his own series with Chuck Dixon at the helm, Gail Simone's amazing Birds of Prey, Geoff Johns Awesome(!) new Teen Titans, Terry Dodson and then Jodi Picult's runs on Wonder Woman, Mark Waid's reboot of the Legion of Superheroes, not to mention the 'event' books like Identity Crisis and then the all of the lead up to Crisis and then 52.

So DC was coming off of all of that. I get that there was maybe a little fatigue setting in. But the New 52 titles don't retain enough of what DC was to satisfy me, generally. As another analogy, the New 52 is kind of like D&D 4e. On its own it ranges from ok to pretty good. But to those of us who really loved 3e, it wasn't similar enough.

And there are clearly creative writers out there who really get what the former DCU was like in tone and sensibility. The excellent Young Justice series which tragically wrapped recently was a reboot of the DCU which kept all of the important themes and characterizations and just 'felt' like DC. Kind of like Pathfinder 'feels' like 3x D&D, you know?

[erilar]

Did I hear correctly that there is no Nightwing in the new universe, or that Nightwing isn't Dick this time around?

[Jonkga]

Did I hear correctly that there is no Nightwing in the new universe, or that Nightwing isn't Dick this time around?

No, that is wrong. Dick is around in the New 52, and he is Nightwing.

In the Bat-titles post New 52, they just re-did the Death in the Family storyline, with the death of Robin, but this time instead of Jason Todd's death, it was Damian Wayne's death. This was their way of freeing up some of the clutter in the Bat-family, and of giving Batman the guilt in the new era.

So, in the New 52, Bruce is Batman, Dick is Nightwing, Damian is the now-dead Robin (so there is a vacancy...), Tim is the Red Robin, Jason is the Red Hood, Stephanie is not currently around, Barbara (who can walk) is Batgirl, and Kate Kane is the Batwoman (but I'm not sure how she fits into things...). Also, I'm not sure where Cassandra Cain and others like Misfit, etc. who wore the Batgirl guise stand in terms of the New 52...

[T1Mirage]

I enjoyed the New 52 but its starting to lose the luster. I'm dropping Green Arrow I think from my pulls. I don't understand the story line and it feels like an effort to follow.

[Lars Porsenna]

I enjoyed the New 52 but its starting to lose the luster. I'm dropping Green Arrow I think from my pulls. I don't understand the story line and it feels like an effort to follow.

That and the artwork really dropped of in quality IMHO. I haven't even read the last 2 ish yet.

Damon.